I’ve always been enamored with holidays. And holiday decorations. My favorite new thing to do is to decorate the mantel. There’s even a blog called 52 Mantels! We don’t actually have a mantel so I decorate our buffet. I like how it makes my decorating efforts compact and concentrated. That way you don’t need to have, or store, tons of stuff!

A few tips for decorating your mantel:

1) Use what you have. You probably already have a supply of holiday decorations. This is a good starting point. I have always decorated for Halloween but not for Thanksgiving. Although the jack-o-lanterns didn’t seem right, the paper mache pumpkin my son made in Kindergarten was perfect. So was the scarecrow. Also, look for thing that are just lying around. I went searching for things that were orange and brown and found two soup bowls in the kitchen cabinet in those colors hat even had turkeys on them. Who knew!

2) Add seasonal flowers or plants. For Christmas there are poinsettias, pine wreaths, and holly. For Valentine’s Day, roses. I also choose plants and flowers for their colors. For example, red roses are great for Valentine’s Day but they could work for Christmas and the 4th of July. I plan to use the pumpkin on the porch and fill it with flowers for our Thanksgiving centerpiece. Nice idea from Inspiring Pretty.

3) Use free printables. I love free printables! They are free! I found the idea and free template for my Give Thanks Banner from At Second Street. Speaking of giving thanks, thanks Kalleen At Second Street!

4) Subway art. These are those cute prints that you can just frame for instant decoration. Simple Crafter has some great ones. They are also all over Pinterest.

Contemporary rendering of a poster from the United Kingdom reading “Keep Calm and Carry On”, created during World War II. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Plato said it. Not having something causes you to be creative. I was much more creative with cards and fashion when I had less money. Being frugal and being creative go hand in hand. You find new uses for old things, using up old food in fridge while cooking (for example stir fried rice with leftover meat and veggies). You can make cards from groovy labels you peel off a can.

I just made two signs for our newly decluttered and organized laundry area. One says “Keep Calm and Laundry On.” I printed it from the internet, printed it on 8 1/2 by 11 paper, and put in a plastic sheet protector. It’s pretty cave like down there with concrete walls, so no fancy frame needed. It’s not fancy but it looks a lot better than it did!